The waters that so devastated northern Queensland earlier this year are resurrecting the country's parched central deserts – notably the Lake Eyre Basin. It's being called a "special" flood – possibly the biggest to make its way through Lake Eyre in nearly half a century. Environmentalists say the Lake Eyre Basin is becoming a last refuge for wildlife as irrigation, dams and diversions choke the life out of the once mighty Murray-Darling.

Parents of children in drought-affected areas are having to decide which of their kids to remove from boarding schools due to not being able to afford school fees, the head of a national rural group says.